Lowest Paid Workers in Three New England States to See Raises in 2014

Minimum wage workers in half the New England states will see a raise in the beginning of 2014.

The new year brings a new wage for those earning the minimum in Connecticut. The old $8.25 an hour rate increases to $8.70.

At $8.73, Vermont barely maintains the region’s highest minimum pay. That’s a 13-cent bump from 2013, as the state ties its annual increases to inflation.

Rhode Island’s wage goes up a quarter to $8 an hour.

Minimum wage workers in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts will see no change in their pay checks.

Lawmakers in Massachusetts are considering a boost that would eventually give it the highest state minimum wage in the country. If that effort fails, the issue could go before voters as a ballot question next November.